A PLANNING dispute could put an end to one school’s outdoor classes.

The Lollipops nursery has been using fenced off allotments at the back of its site in Southwood Road, New Eltham, since 2007 to provide lessons.

Teachers use ‘forest school’ methods for around 60 pupils, which aim to boost the youngsters’ learning and confidence through outside activities.

But trouble started last year after managers replaced outbuildings with a log cabin for use as an outdoor classroom. News Shopper: Skye White age 3, Marina Dillon-Tabar age 4 and Maggie-Mae Darcy age 4.

The nursery was then told it needed planning permission for both the classroom and to carry on using the allotments for teaching. But the application has now been turned down.

Area manager Angela Eade said: “It’s such a shame. We’re now concerned about what’s going to happen with the land.”

Rebecca Felstead’s four-year-old son Harry has attended since he was 10 months old.

News Shopper: Nakeisha Morris and Anglea Eade with the children She said: “It’s given him confidence more than anything. In the classroom he’d be quite shy and clingy to me.

“But my son’s like a completely different person when he’s out there.

She added: “I think he’d be depressed and the children wouldn’t be half as happy without it. They absolutely love it and it’s so well maintained and looked after.

“I can’t praise it highly enough. I went to one session, saw it and was amazed.”

- News Shopper is awaiting a response from Greenwich Council.